● United Left Alliance Limerick Launch Rally, Tuesday February 1st
● ULA will expose Fine Gael & Labour's conspiring with Fianna Fail to implement savage cuts in Finance Bill
● Call for the Finance Bill & economic policy to be the heart of the election debate

The newly established United Left Alliance will be launched in Limerick next Tuesday, February 1st at a public rally in the Absolute Hotel at 8pm. High profile speakers at the rally include Joe Higgins MEP, former TD and current councillor, Seamus Healy and Cllr Bríd Smith, who will outline the United Left Alliance's alternative to cuts, unemployment & the IMF, and launch the ULA's election campaign for Limerick City candidate Cian Prendiville.

Speaking ahead of the rally, Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party said:

“The ULA is striving to build a mass left alternative to the major parties that are all committed to implementing cuts and attacks on ordinary people. We have a had a series of very large launches around the country, with up to 400 in Dublin and 200 in Cork, now hopefully the Limerick launch will bring out more people interested in making a real change in this election.

“The ULA rejects solutions to the economic crisis based on slashing public expenditure, welfare payments and workers pay. Instead the ULA stands for democratic public control over resources so that social need is prioritised over profit. The ULA is open to anyone who wishes to get actively involved in building such an alternative.”

Cllr Bríd Smith of People Before Profit commented:

“For the vast majority of working people and the unemployed in Limerick City I am sure the fiasco of the collapsing government pales into insignificance when compared to the collapsing living standards they have to cope with in the aftermath of the budget. For those still in work the reality of the income tax hikes and the universal public charge which is loaded against the lower paid has fully hit home this month when they have received their wage packets. Fine Gael and Labour intend keeping us on this course of cut backs for the next 5 years. The situation demands a real radical alternative across the country which the ULA will strive to provide.”

The public meeting will also discuss the current controversy over the Finance Bill, which ULA general election candidate for Limerick City, Cian Prendiville has demanded should be postponed until after the election.

Mr. Prendiville argued that “this Finance Bill is not a harmless piece of paper, rather it is a whole series of attacks on workers and the unemployed. The Finance Bill gives legal effect to the budget. Therefore you can’t be against the budget and at time ‘facilitate’ it passing through the Dail. This is utter hypocrisy and shows that they have no real differences with Fianna Fail's slash and burn agenda.

“If they were really opposed to this budget they would be demanding an immediate general election where the budget could be debated. The truth is that both the Labour party and Fine Gael have no alternative to budget cuts and austerity policies and are committed in principal to the EU/IMF bailout agreement. They may be willing to play around with the details of the budget cuts but they are committed to implementing €15 billion in cuts because they argue there is no alternative. We say there is an alternative and it begins with tearing up the EU/IMF Memorandum of Understanding and burning the bondholders. It certainly does not involve pouring money into a failed banking system and the private pockets of property developers.”

“This must be a low point in cynicism in Irish politics which has seen many lows. We have here the ethics of corner boys pushing one of their number to mug vulnerable passers by while the rest skulk nearby ready to pick the victims' pockets.

“Clearly the General Election should be called immediately with the provisions of the Finance Bill and economic policy generally as the centre of debate. In this way every party will be called on to justify why working people in this State should be enslaved to the financial markets or to repudiate such a policy.”

If you would like to help the Socialist Party and United Left Alliance election campaign in Limerick you can contact us at: 086-8064801 or cian@socialistparty.net

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